Australian Wood Review – June 2019

48 Australian Wood Review

PROFILE

Once again, the fun of making is

solving the order of things. Away from

the body of the chair the legs of the

Femur chair really do look like their

namesake. Square faces for joinery

are buzzed and thicknessed, then a

succession of machine setups and

jigs do their work – tenoner, mortiser,

bandsaw spindle moulder. ‘A set of

chairs is essentially a production

run. There’s a great joy in that for

me actually – in the consistency. You

can do a whole batch of components

and pick up any piece and it will fit

beautifully with any other matching

component. Hand cut joinery is

slower and requires laborious fitting

of each individual join.’

Hand tools are here too however.

Arranged in drawers it’s clear they all

have their place and ‘there’s things

they can do that machines can’t’.

Q/A

Why do you make things?

The act of making quietens the many questions and thoughts that

wizz around in my overactive mind. Just like a form of meditation,

I become completely in the moment. There is nothing like being

near a sharp blade spinning at 3,000 rpm to focus the mind!

If your work could talk, what would it say?

I’m in it for the long haul.

A successful design in wood is...

When everyone in the orchestra is in tune.

When you make a piece, what’s your overriding priority?

How can I make it better?

Favourite machine?

Robinson chisel mortiser, English 1967, weighs about a tonne.

What I love about this machine is it’s a very bodily experience.

It’s a bit like driving a steam train and using it is a practical

workout – you’re operating on three axes with the levers. It’s

probably the machine here that requires the most coordination,

it’s a bit like playing an instrument I suppose.

Favourite hand tool?

My #7 Stanley handplane. I had the base reground and fitted a

custom blade from Academy Saws.

Most used hand tool?

A 150mm ruler.

Favourite wood?

I’m not going to say walnut, although it probably is. It’s the

wood I’m using at the time. Because you just fall in love with it.

Favourite maker?

I couldn’t pick one, but I’ve been thinking a lot about Matthew

Harding.

What’s easy and what’s hard about this profession?

Easy is the autonomy and the independence. The hard part is

not going bonkers – the risk of spending too much time in your

own shed that woodworkers face. You start believing your own

bulldust.

What’s your best advice for someone who is starting out?

This is going to sound like ‘do as I say, not as I do’. Find a niche.

You can’t be all things to all people. Dining tables can be a great

business, just do something like that if it’s a business you want.

Sell the story, sell the timber. Apart from that, don’t let anyone

tell you that their way is the only right and true way.

Can you give me a random fact about you?

I love the smell of diesel and freshly tilled earth.

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